Mock polls set on Saturday

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Elections in Cebu City will pick representatives from the different sectors who will participate in the mock elections scheduled this coming Saturday.

Lawyer Edwin Cadungog, election officer for the south district, said yesterday that to get a better picture of what will happen in the actual elections in May, they will choose lawyers, police, the youth, senior citizens, businessmen, from the media, ordinary laborers, among others, and if possible, including illiterates.

Cadungog said that with the practice, they hope to observe how the voters will react to the new electoral process so they will have an idea on how to deal with them during the actual election day.

The mock elections will be held in Bulacao Elementary School in Barangay Bulacao for the south district and Mabini Elementary School, Barangay Mabini for the north district which will have 50 participants each.

The total of 100 voters to participate the mock election represents 0.019 percent of the total 521, 015 registered voters of Cebu City as of December 30, 2009.

Cadungog added that for the purpose of the testing, he will suggest to have a pre-canvassing just before voters shall insert the ballots to the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS). He explained that this is to determine if the results of the pre-canvass will match with the machine count.

The names on the ballots that will be used will not be that of the actual candidates so as not to give unpleasant color to the mock elections.

Cadungog said that they expect the canvassing to be easier and faster this time because they will be using electronic transmission and counting.

Even if there will only be 100 voters to participate the mock elections, Comelec earlier encouraged other voters to observe to be educated.

The coming mock elections on Saturday, according to Comelec, will be conducted “to test and determine the functional capabilities and systems reliability in actual conditions and environment as on election day.”

It specifically aims to examine the PCOS and the canvassing and consolidation system, its recording and reading of votes, the printing of election returns, and the electronic transmission of results from polling places to the municipal, city, provincial, national canvassing and consolidation centers. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)